J, Author at Persistence and Tenacity

Mini Feel Good Workouts aka Catching A Workout

Catching Workouts

Wherever you are and with whatever you have you should be able to “catch” a workout.

It may be done with some odd equipment, or with none at all. Whatever you have available and feel like doing.

I have decent work capacity. Why? Because I’m constantly tacking on small amounts of volume to my day be it in PT, in the gym, or at home doing fun little sessions.

Sometimes I’m too amped up and need to expend some energy.

I have a little collection of “toys” if you will at home to play with:

ab wheel
elitefts light band
pushup handles (for L-Sits)
pair of 10lb dbs (shoudler and arm feeders)
20lb kettlebell

Extra Play Sessions

If i don’t feel like straight calisthenics I’ll play with something out of the above.

Late last night it was the kettlebell.

You’d be surprised that a kettlebell only weighing 20lbs can be so useful.

Swings? I get great pumps here.

One arm rows? Great muscular contraction. (I use hand on my own knee, and a high body angle)

High rep side bends are in order.

Last Nights Mini Session + An Awesome Way To Do Kettlebell Swings

This is what I did:

1-5-1 swing pyramid switching hands each number. 2 sets, one started right hand, 1 started left hand
2×25 one arm rows each hand
2×50 side bends each side (one set each hand only holding the KB with my middle finger)

What did I get from this?

Well I got:

A solid glute pump
An upper back pump
A side pump
A surprising pump in my hand around the middle finger (I’m not kidding)

AND most importantly I got myself out of my head and feeling better with the world.

So this uplifted spirits, calmed me down, and got me a bit of volume adding to my work capacity.

Some other takeaways:

The alternating hands KB pyramid is a very fun way to do swings. It’s far less monotonous.
I like side bends. Like the MacCharles 50 for wrist curls, I could see doing similar for 50-100 reps here and getting stupid heavy on these. I’ve done around 135 for 3×15 on farmers walk bars without training this. It would bulletproof the core more, and I can see 135×100 easily.
I have to get back to the MacCharles wrist curl 50s. I recently gutted out 95×50, 115×50 was a PR years ago, and I want 135×50 on camera because well weird strength.

-J

Forget The Scale/Who Cares What You Weigh

For a while forget the scale, and don’t give a damn about what you weigh.

Unless you have to make weight just go by look and feel.

For a while I’m done stepping on a scale (I haven’t in a few weeks now), I’m done caring about 1 rep maxes, and will be doing far more reps and volume. A shift towards bodybuilding, conditioning, and work capacity.

I realized cardio is a weakness.

It’s pretty bad to be gassing from multiple low rep sets, even if I’m taking short rest periods.

It’s called strength and conditioning.

I’d forgotten the and conditioning part.

Sometimes you need a change, need a different approach.

Pound for pound I was stronger ~40lbs lighter, and at that weight I had cardio. My absolute strength was similar.

For life cardio is necessary, I’d become far too much the one trick pony, lifting weights but not doing much else. It’s time.

-J

Deep Breathing

Our culture is set at only two speeds:

•100mph (rat race)
•Zombified (TV staring)

Sometimes you need to take a step back and simply breath.

Let the oxygen fill your lungs, for a moment have no troubles.

Yeah you can’t meditate your life away, but the rat race ain’t healthy either.

Deep breathing does something, you may not be able to explain it, but you can feel it… psychological, and physiological.

I believe it was Martin “Farmer” Burns in an old time physical culture publication that said “Deep breathing alone has made many a weak man strong”.

The more I focus on breathing the more I believe it.

The kicker? This may not mean physically strong, alone or primarily.

Sometimes the best thing to do is take a step back, and just breath for a while.

-J

On Feasting (And Fasting)

Of all topics, and not wanting to do the stereotypical “what I am thankful for” type post that so many would publish on Thanksgiving without further ado;

On Feasting And Fasting:

As a senior in high school I started doing 16/8 fasts regularly (16 hour fasts, 8 hour eating period daily)

For at most 3 weeks my stomach would grumble at me it being unused to skipping breakfast.

Then I adapted.

I soon learned it is far easier to wake up, fast a few hours, eat, wait a long while, feast, fast a few hours then sleep. Hard physicality is best done just prior to the feast.

A 16 hour fast is very easy. You’re sleeping a solid percentage of it.

Doing this I’ve found I function better with little in me, stacking the calories at nighttime instead of evenly spread throughout the day.

I eat opposite of the stereotypical bodybuilder 6 tiny meals a day plan. Mine looks more like a couple hundred calories early, then a 3000-5000k calorie meal at night or after training.

Performance issues? Maybe in the adaption period, but I find my performance is just fine like this if not better.

My stomach feels better with the less frequent meals, and I don’t have to take as many shits.

Occasionally as a test of willpower I’ll fast 24 hours. This length still is quite easy.

While fasted I’ve done just about everything physically one can do without issue. In fact a lot of my best workouts are while empty often even lacking sleep.

To be able to perform through adversity.

(This is something I’ve purposely trained for over the years, cold reps, on empty, lacking sleep,middle of the night, etc.)

You will adapt mentally and physically if you allow yourself to. However this requires not shooting yourself in the foot by constantly thinking about food and the eating of it.

It’s more natural for the human body to eat this way. I doubt cavemen were carb loading before mammoth hunting. At most they’d eat a little, go get their meat, and after doing so eat copious amounts while sitting around the fire. Feasting and fasting/feast and famine, not constant satiation.

Happy Thanksgiving,

-J

The Snatch Grip Deadlift

I view the snatch grip deadlift as closer to a squat, and more easily recovered from than an actual conventional deadlift.

While I have pulled high frequency before conventional the snatch grip deadlift I can do daily indefinitely without issue.

As I said (at least for my build) I can do it daily. It’s very similar CNS wise to a squat, meaning I’m built for this.

Generally it’s within 10% of my conventional pull. (Same as stiff leg deadlifts, even with small deficit, likely due just to how I’m built.)

Straps are the only accommodation away from raw here. You can’t mix grip a snatch grip.

It’s the one pull variation where I actually feel my legs fire in breaking the weight off the floor, and it’s honestly the #1 lift for getting my lats sore.

The bar is either going to lockout or it’s dead on the floor, no midway knee height failure like in my conventional deadlifts. Whatever weak point I have in conventional, I bypass it by going low into the snatch grip.

Likely I’ll start doing it frequently again. My pull being down is pissing me off, and I’d forgotten that there are variations that build strength for me very well.

Picture this (as my heavy, not stupid high volume) pull focus day:

Olympic lifts- moderate weights, no failures.
Snatch Grip Deadlift-moderate to heavy, any rep range.
Shrug- cheat form, strapped, either normal or snatch grip (Kaz shrugs) going slightly crazy.
Some Row, Chin, or Pulldown
Abs+Lower Back
(And as usual a small amount of legs+push to make it full body.)

I like how this sounds, and when you like how it sounds generally you’ll do it.

Pull gains time!

-J

P.S. This was today’s session (yesterday snatch grip deadlifting 365×10 was inspiration for this post):

Power Clean 3×135,165,195. 3×3 225
Snatch Grip Deadlifts- 1×315,1xfail 365 (raw), strapped 1×365,4×415,1×465
Snatch Grip Shrugs-5×315,405. 30×495
Lat Pulls + Pushdowns Superset
Leg Raises (on chin/dip/ab tower) + 45° Hyper Superset 3×15 each unweighted.
Westside Inverse Curl 1×10 w 135lb on machine for assistance.

Notes: Solid session. The 465 pull was very ugly though. Keep setting rep PRs and volume PRs on this movement. Don’t go past 435 for a while. I need to do more cardio. Jump rope is easy enough to start and/or end with.

I like volume, and I like frequency. I’m built for some movements physically and mentally like the snatch grip deadlift.

Barefoot On Real Ground

We as “civilized” people have grown too far from our roots in nature.

Our happiness is quite correlated to our being in touch with the natural,the primal, the animalistic.

Living in a city can easily get you down.

It may sound like total hokum, total malarkey, but i believe there is energy we are meant to feel, to absorb, to interact with, that we do not get when in 100% man made environments.

In essence we need “to get back to our roots”.

Call me crazy, but open your mind and give it a shot, tell me this doesn’t work.

Kick off your socks and shoes, and put your feet on real ground. Natural god made ground.

Being barefoot on natural substance has a grounding affect be it grass,dirt,sand, whatever.

The act itself centers you, and for a short moment (as hippie as this sounds) you are one with the Earth.

As you feel the damp moss (or sand) between your toes for a short while you forget the existence of the modern world.

No one thinks of the spiritual affect (aside from the physical benefits) that being barefoot can provide.

Go for a short walk in the woods sans shoes. You’d be surprised how out of touch and soft you’ve become.

It’s a depressing part of the concrete jungle that is a city: you can go months without feet touching something as natural as grass. Even five minutes on a small patch is better than nothing.

Being barefoot on grass instantly ups my mood.

However don’t limit yourself to being barefoot in warm weather. From time to time go barefoot in winter conditions (just not for a long period of time). It is quite childish, fun, and silly to do, yet even this year I ran about 100 yards down and back barefoot in the snow, finishing off by making snow angels and doing rolls in the snow going far past my buddies original dare for me to do the run portion barefoot.

This essay is related in some manner to my recent one on the lifting of weights outdoors.

Winter is in the air, and I’m feeling a call of the wild. Awhoo!

-J

The Leg Extension Isometric Hold

I’m unsure of what exactly I get out of this, but it definitely does something good.

It may just be a matter of it flushing the muscle with blood, each second of contraction being equivalent to a rep making this a great work capacity/volume tool, and when held for long enough times a good mental toughness exercise.

I start the stack at 70lbs which is honestly too light for 5-10 reps.

Then jump 30-40lbs for sets of 5 until the stack is reached (260lbs) where I either do holds of 30+ seconds or a rep out (generally 20-30 reps) then holds.

I dont like doing lots of leg extensions, but this protocol I do like.

The protocol is a nice little way to get the leg work you need done by in and out 5-10 minute style.

-J

This Is Why I Say Fuck Lifting Programs : Yesterday’s Snatch Session

I am by no means a great weightlifter/olympic lifter. I’m simply better than most at it, especially considering the average gym crowd.

I know I have never snatched 225.

It’s possible I’ve hit 215, but I’m uncertain of it. (There’s no video of it, and I don’t maintain a logbook, YouTube functioning as a sort of “cool shit that happened” logbook.)

I know I’ve been capable of 205 since capturing it on video (March 6 based on upload date), and relatively consistently at that.

(That rep, my first at 205.)

11/15/17 ~0600-0635 I pulled it 30+ times in a similar number of minutes only missing 2 or 3 times. One of those fails had so much velocity I lost it behind me, a manner of olympic lift failure I’ve never had happen before, that would’ve been a PR rep had there been more weight on the bar.

This is why I say fuck programs, as no percentage based program would allow me to hit 30+ singles with either 95% or 100% of my known max in one session. (And yes I’d failed a couple attempts at 225 before going totally fucking psycho with 205.)

It was a fun lift. I got to bounce around blaring music, predator stare and stalk the bar, keep hitting reps, and take the utmost care that I didn’t take out a not paying attention group fitness class bystander. (I actually faced opposite the normal manner on the platform for such reasons especially after the 100mph throw over my head unintentionally rep.)

I’d wait for a gap in group class participants to finish walking around/across the platform, hit it again, and so on and so forth really until I started losing pop which was well into the 30ish, likely 35-40 attempt area. I was pulling faster than every minute on the minute for at least 15 minutes, and then about EMOM for another 15-20.

This my friends can be defined as a solid ass session, and is as I’ve said reason #10783948735 that you shouldn’t be so wed to a program. Guidelines are far more likely to allow cool shit to happen.

-J

Coming From Nothing + Honor Your Anscestors

Regardless of how little you came from materially it is an insult to the generations of your ancestors to say that you came from nothing.

For you to be here generation upon generation of people that looked something like you fought,starved,struggled,died, and overcame for your existence.

Our “modern” society would have us shit on our roots, live unnaturally, and isolated, weakly bonded to the ancestors and family nearest us, and have us completely forgetful of the more distant ones.

Take a minute and look at yourself in the mirror. Look at yourself and see in that face of yours others. See the look in their eyes. You’re in America right? That likely means that within the last 200 years or so someone like you made it across the Atlantic dirt poor, and today here you are.

My grandmother was put in an orphanage for a few years as her family couldn’t feed her and some of her siblings. (About half the siblings spent around 3 years in the orphanage before being taken back into the family home, in slightly better times. This was still far rougher than we have it.)

My grandfather spent his entire days outside the house to keep safe from his evil stepmother.

I’ve seen my father work blue collar, long hours, low pay, and bad weather for decades and still struggle.

I’ve seen my mother sick, I know she and I were near death in my childbirth. The advised “safe” option to abort was not taken.

And here I am! Thank god.

“Honor thy father and mother for it is good” I’d been looking at the verse wrong. Thinking about the stupid decisions they have made, looked at the degenerate television they choose to live in front of, and not looked at…the sacrifice.

This is how you honor your father and mother, how you honor your ancestors: You look to the hardship they have went through for you, and live!

Do you want to let them down? Waste not only your life, but their sacrifices? You damn sure better not. Inside of you should be a feverish drive to honor those sacrifices, and this feeling, the feeling of needing to do it proud , they’ve attempted to engineer this power out of you.

If this fire is not strong inside of your heart, GET IT FUCKING BACK!

-J

The One Hand/ One Arm Snatch

While mentally categorized as “party trick” like one arm anything that I can do (pushups), I find it highly enjoyable to do old time lifts that are no longer done by anyone outside the USAWA from time to time in the gym.

It allows me to goof off and have fun, get something amusing for the camera, and should I be lifting outside of anti-social hour put on a show for the crowd.

Of all manner of old tyme lifts to do, I’ve always generally chosen the one arm snatch. This small hobby likely goes back to a light session in my backyard wanting to do one arm presses somewhat old time bent press style and snatching it into position for the presses. That evening an amusing infrequent habit was born.

The Lack Of Training

Initially trying the lift power style and being able to hit 115 occasionally and inconsistently over what must have been a year, from time to time I’d play around with doing the snatch light and then squatting atg to see how the lift feels in the bottom, to feel the shoulder demands in that position.

(One such time with 115 on an axle)

One time the idea to try it split snatch style popped into mind (this was six months ago), and I practiced it on a day I’d failed to PR, but had solid grip strength.

I like using the axle, but sometimes it’s a regular barbell. This really only is something I play around at maybe a half dozen times a year. It’s fun and diverting, but not a main lift (at least so far, you never can tell what I’ll train).

The Technique

one arm snatch,one hand snatch, technique,old time,strongman,lifts,start,beginning — The beginning/start position of a one arm snatch. Model credit: Arthur Saxon

As you see in the start photo the free hand is pressed into the thigh. While a minor technique consideration (I didn’t heed this during my recent PR) this is not just set there loosely, it is actually driven into the thigh. Doing this allows a little extra “oomph”. I know this advice has been written before likely in whatever book written by Saxon that photo came from. Hat’s off to you should you find it.

one arm snatch,one hand snatch, technique,old time,strongman,lifts,end,finish,complete — Arthur Saxon demonstrating the lift 99% of the way done. A stickler for rules would say stand in a more proper lockout position, feet shoulder width,torso rigid etc.

Your catch being brought up into the completed lift will look quite close to the above photo. While some may catch in a squat, I’ve never bothered to complete the lift as such, and my breakthrough a few days ago was doing the lift split style while feeling like I had “pop”.

On the split style: for coordination reasons it makes far more sense for the leg jumping forward to be opposite the pulling arm. While being able to hit near the same numbers power style, being right handed, and possibly lacking the coordination to jump the opposite manner with the bar in my left hand I focus moreso on the right hand pulling, left foot jumping forward manner. That’s not to say don’t try in reverse (I do power style with both hands). I’d personally love to do an oly competition circa 1896 featuring a slew of one hand and two hand lifts. I just PR right hand due to superior coordination (but oddly not grip strength, my left hand grips better.)

All that aside it’s a snatch, and not rocket science. Grab it one handed (obviously) since its a one arm snatch, deadlift it to a little higher than knee level,then jump hard while pulling hard, dip, and catch it. Proceed to celebrate.

WHOO!!!!

Oddly Ric Flair manages to constantly be relevant.

The Result:

The vid inspiring this post aka watch this:

135 Booyah!

-J

P.S. Should you have made it this far this post popped into mind as an experiment to see if YouTube SEO is improved by writing up a related article, cross link time.